With the increased use of personal computers in the office environment, many articles of furniture have been modified to accommodate the proliferation of electrical cables associated with these computers. The task of wire management has become more troublesome, yet more essential. Many furniture systems have been developed that provide some means for storing or containing the various cables and wires associated with a computer system, as well as with other electrical equipment that may be supported by an article of furniture, such as a table or a desk.
A more unique problem arises in the case of ganged or interconnected furniture. For example, in many conference or training room settings, several tables can be connected or ganged together in a particular arrangement. In a training setting, several trainees may be seated around an array of tables, each trainee having his/her own computer for performing various training tasks. Similarly, in a conference room setting, the attendees may likewise require their own P.C. at their particular location at the table arrangement.
With ganged furniture of this type, such as in a conference or training room scenario, a problem arises as to how to get electrical power to each of the computers throughout the length of the connected furniture. One obvious approach is to provide each work station or conference table location with an electrical cable connected directly to an outlet. However, in most conference or training rooms, there are not enough wall outlets to accommodate the number of participants. A further option that has been pursued is the utilization of a plurality of so-called "power strips," which are simply strips of multiple electrical outlets connected to a single power cord, which is in turn plugged into a wall socket. This approach has the advantage of reducing the number of wall plug ins that are necessary, since a typical power strip will have 4-8 electrical sockets. Nevertheless, in a conference room setting where there are a dozen or more participants, several power strips would be required, which again is likely to exceed the number of available wall outlets. Moreover, even if there are a sufficient number of wall outlets, the use of several power strips can still lead to a tangled web of electrical cables that somehow always manage to get into the path of a participant who will either trip over a cable or inadvertently unplug it from the wall socket.
In some circumstances, the power strips are improperly daisy chained together. In other words, each power strip is connected to a prior power strip, which is ultimately connected to a single wall socket. This use of the power strip is in violation of certain regulatory standards, as well as the usage recommended by the manufacturers of power strips. Notwithstanding the safety hazards, the daisy chaining of power strips still presents problems in wire management.
Therefore, there still remains a need for an electrical system that can be readily adapted for use with ganged articles of furniture, such as training or conference tables. The answer to this need is complicated by various safety regulations promulgated by the National Electric Code (NEC). One principal regulation limits the number of electrical outlets that are connected together. According to NEC regulations, a single electrical circuit is limited to a wall outlet and twelve additional outlets. An Underwriter's Laboratory regulation requires the use of a circuit breaker if more than three outlets are electrically connected to a 15-amp circuit. Other UL regulations limit the length of flexible power cords that can be used in a particular system, and the use of permanent vs. temporary electrical taps.
Adherence to the National Electric Code is an almost universal requirement of local government building inspector bodies. A UL or equivalent listing is often a requirement for electrical equipment by many of those same inspecting bodies. Consequently, purchasers of "electrified" articles of furniture will look to adherence to these regulations as a requirement for their purchase. Thus far, no adequate solution has been proposed for an electrical power distribution system that is adapted for use with ganged articles of furniture. While various solutions may exist that would fall within the UL restrictions, none of these possible solutions are fool proof. Specifically, there has been no answer to the problem of electrified ganged furniture that would prevent the improper use of the furniture. For example, simply providing a power strip with each table could satisfy the need for electrical power at a number of stations at the table. However, the user of the ganged furniture could improperly daisy chain the power strips between adjacent connected tables.
Consequently, not only is there a need for an electrical system that can be used with ganged furniture, there is also a need for such a system that prevents unauthorized or improper usage.